Meanwhile, two other charitable Staten Islanders, Richard and Lois Nicotra, decided to opt out of having ice water dumped on their heads, and instead donated $1,000 to the ALS Association during an employee barbecue Tuesday at the couple's Hilton Garden Inn, Bloomfield.

As of Wednesday, the ALS Association has received $31.5 million in donations compared to $1.9 million during the same time period last year. Donations have come from existing donors and 637,527 new donors, according to the Association.

ALS, better known as "Lou Gehrig's disease," is a disorder of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, which control voluntary muscle movement.

After completing the challenge, Ferreri challenged Dan Messina, CEO of Richmond University Medical Center, as well as other senior staff at SIUH, including Donna Proske, executive director; Nicholas Caruselle, deputy executive director; Dr. Theodore Strange, associate chairman of Medicine and VP of South Site Operations, and Dr. James Malpeso, director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab and Interventional Cardiology.